ST. PETE BEACH, FL August 22, 2011 – Understanding the critical mistakes many travelers make while purchasing travel insurance can prevent over spending and over insuring. “Many people over insure without even knowing,” says Sarah Byrne, Marketing Manager at Squaremouth.com, a site for comparing and purchasing travel insurance. “To avoid it, travelers should make themselves aware of what coverage they already have and what coverage they need to buy.”

Cancel for Any Reason
According to Squaremouth, cancel for any reason is one travel insurance benefit most travelers do not need. Cancel for any reason allows someone to cancel without explanation, benefiting those who must cancel a trip for a non-covered reason. Since trip cancellation covers travelers to cancel their trip and receive reimbursement in the event of illness, injury, inclement weather or terrorism, Squaremouth usually does not recommend upgrading a travel insurance policy to include the benefit.

“In almost all cases, people want to take their trip, and the reasons they would need to cancel are already covered under trip cancellation,” explains Byrne.

Before purchasing a travel insurance policy, travelers should review the covered reasons under the trip cancellation benefit. If a potential reason for cancelling is not listed, they should then consider upgrading the travel insurance policy to include cancel for any reason.

Too Much Evacuation Coverage
Most travelers are unaware of how much medical evacuation coverage is needed while traveling. Squaremouth recommends choosing the amount of medical evacuation insurance based on the destination. For example, $100,000 in evacuation coverage should be enough protection for visiting Europe, however, travelers visiting Asia or Africa may want to consider a travel insurance policy with at least $250,000 in evacuation coverage.

“Some travel insurance policies offer several million dollars of evacuation coverage, however, it is rare for an evacuation to cost more than $100,000,” advises Chris Harvey, CEO of Squaremouth. “Don’t spend more for a travel insurance policy thinking multi-million dollar coverage is necessary.”

Buying From the Travel Supplier
Buying travel insurance from your airline, cruise line or tour company could result in purchasing a travel insurance policy for a higher premium with lower benefits. This is a common mistake many travelers make and can be the result of the lack of travel insurance options provided by the travel supplier. Squaremouth recommends searching for travel insurance on a comparison engine. This will provide more options with better travel insurance policies for less money.

Rental Car Coverage
Since many car insurance companies and credit card providers offer protection while driving a rental car, most travelers do not need to buy travel insurance to cover a rental car. Car insurance companies, including State Farm, Allstate and Progressive offer protection, however, not all policies will cover “loss of use” fees if the rental car requires repairs. Most American Express, MasterCard and Visa cards provide a collision damage waiver, but travelers must purchase the rental car on the card for coverage to be available.

If travelers do not have the option to receive coverage from their car insurance or credit card provider, and do not have the need for a comprehensive travel insurance policy, rental car protection is available from Travel Guard or American Express. Both travel insurance companies offer rental car collision insurance ranging from $7 to $9 a day.

Frequent Flier Miles
Since travel insurance only lets travelers recoup non-refundable cash losses, travelers should not include intangibles like frequent flier miles.

“Adding those values to a travel insurance policy will increase the cost of your premium without adding additional coverage,” warns Byrne.

Some travel insurance policies, however, will reimburse the cost of a reissue fee, as well as fees to re-bank the miles.

About Squaremouth
Squaremouth is America’s fastest growing travel insurance comparison site, helping customers instantly quote, compare and buy policies from every major carrier. Squaremouth has web sites in the US and UK, and an extensive network of partner sites worldwide. The company is headquartered in St Pete Beach, FL., with offices in Fort Wayne, IN. Visit Squaremouth.com or Squaremouth.co.uk.

About our Zero Complaint Guarantee
The cornerstone of our commitment to customers is Squaremouth’s guarantee to remove any company from our website if there is a customer complaint that cannot be resolved to our satisfaction. Squaremouth offers the broadest selection of insurance with an emphasis on quality and follow-up care in companies featured. We also factor in independent evaluation from the insurance industry watchdog AM Best.